Optical exerciser



Patented Mar. 3l, 1936 UNITED STATES PATE-NT oFF-ICE 3 Claims.

This invention relates to an optical exerciser or orthoptic trainingdevice, the principal object of which is to train or exercise themuscles of the eyes and thereby improve faulty muscles. The invention isapplied by means of the stereoscope which is a binocular instrument bymeans of which two pictures are superimposed and stand out in relief asone picture. The stereoscope is not usedin the present invention withthe object of obtaining relief, but instead it is used to determine whena series of double pictures superimpose, or when they diverge, as viewedby an individual. The eyes normally tend to bring the pictures intofusion with the result that when the pictures are purposely diffused themuscles of the eyes are exercised in bringing or tending to bring thepicture subjects into fusion. By a gradual change from a condition offusion to a condition of eX- treme divergence or convergence the musclesare exercised over a wide range, and by regular exercises the conditionsof squinting and crosseyes can be relieved and in some instances cured.

An orthoptic training device for exercising the eyemuscles is disclosedin U. S. Patent 1,948,901, Feb; 27, 1934. This comprises a stereoscopewith means for mechanically adjusting the position of a pair of picturesrelative to each other and an index for showing the position of thesepictures. These pictures can be brought into fusion or into divergenceby the operation of the adjusting mechanism.

The present invention-improves upon this `patent by eliminatingthemechansm andusinginstead a motion picture lm which is slidablymovable in front of ground glass or similar screens on the focal centre`of the lenses of the stereoscope. The film is provided with a series ofdouble pictures spaced longitudinally of the lm in stereoscopic relationto each otherwhen Viewed through the stereoscope, that is, a portion ofone picture blends or fuses with a portion of the other and togetherthey make a complete picture.L One of the series of pictures'is spacedso that both pictures can be brought into the focal centre of bothlenses of the device at the same time'. This is the normal picture andfor normal sight these pictures should fuse or partially overlap so asto form a complete single picture. The pictures on the other portions ofthe film are spaced either closer to each other than the normalpictures, or are spaced farther apart than the normal pictures, so thatfor normal sight they will not fuse intoone picture but will showas twoseparate pictures. These diverging pictures are'preferably arranged tovary progressively by increasing or decreasing distances towards the endof the'lm as compared with the normal picture. At each location on thefilm an index mark is provided showing numerically the extent of thedivergence or convergenceV for each set of pictures' so that the user,in determining the set of pictures that fuse for his particular vision.sees at the same time the extent of divergence from normal, if any, thatbringsV about this condition.

'The fllmhas the picture subjects spaced on separate portions thereof sothat as the film is moved longitudinally through the eld of vision ofthe device, this movementbrings the complementary parts of the pictureintoview and removes the parts of all other pictures from the 'eld ofView. The complementary parts of the picture being part of an integralfilm, theseparts have a xed relation to each other which cannot bedisturbed as the picture subjects are changed. y The entire mechanismcomprises the ,stereoscope and a portion of film with the picturecharaCters'prOperly spaced there or 1. A The changing of the picturecharacters is accomplished by moving the lmrelative to theground glassscreens of -thegsig'hting device. The lm may be moved back and forth byhand, or itmay be made' in th-form'of anendless beltand moved by clock;worlir or by Ahand operatedA stepping mechanism which is not shown inthe present disclosure. The lmmayalso b e in the form of arevolvng discWhich'will'repeatits operation for each revolue tioni The effect pf4stereoscopic relief maybe embodied in-the pictures, butthis effect isnot essential topractising theinvention. Where the term stereoscopic isused herein it implies the fusion or superimposing of overlapping partsof a pic-v ture'subj ect into'a single picture, rather than the effectof reliefinpictures The invention will be more particularlyunderstoodjf; fromk the following specification and the accompanyingdrawing, in which: Fig.V 1 'indicates three' sections of a motionpictureffilm havinga series of double picture subjects arrangedaccording to this invention;

Figi adiagram, of a stereoscope `arranged for viewing? the picturesubjects on the lm in Fig'. 1; Y l,

Fig. 3 showsthe results obtained by the fusion of anormal picture yonthe lm when viewed-by the vstereoscope;k andV Fig, 4 shows a resultobtainedwith. sonretof thev double pictures from other portions of thelm.

In Fig. 2, II and I2 are a pair of lenses of a stereoscope which arespaced apart by a distance indicated by a. The lens I I sights thepicture subject on lm I5 on the axes b and has a field of visioncovering the ground glass screen I3 which makes the picture subjectvisible. The lens I2 in the same way sights the picture subject on theaxes c and has a eld of vision covering the ground glass screen I4. 'Ihelenses II and I2 are adjusted to sight a double picture, one portion ofwhich occupies the eld I3 and the other'portion occupies the eld I4 soas to unite these pictures into a single picture subject with theoverlapping parts fused together and giving the effect of stereoscopicrelief when the picture subjects have been taken by a stereo.- scopiccamera.

The lm 2I has a picture background 22 and is provided with the usualnotched apertures at 23 whereby it may be fed through the frame of thestereoscopic instrument which is not shown in the drawing. The 'film isprovided with a series of double picture which for convenience in thedrawing comprise the letters ON indicated at 24, and the letters NEindicated at 25 on the drawing. When fused together by the stereoscopiceffect the letters N overlap each other and superimpose to form the oneword ONE, as indicated in Fig. 3.

When one part of the double picture has its axes at g, Fig. 3, and theother part has its axes at h, corresponding to the focal centers b and cof the lenses II and I2, a normal picture is produced and for normalvision the overlapping portions of the picture are fused together. Thenormal portion of the film is indicated at 5I and includes the doublepicture 24 and 25 at location 28. This portion of the llm has a markbelow the picture indicated by the letter N showing that the normalpicture is in the vision of the instrument. Extending towards the leftfrom this normal location are a series of double pictures indicated at29, 30 and 3|. At each of these locations the space between the twoportions of the double picture is progressively increased sothat as theyare brought into the sighting position on the stereoscope they graduallydiverge from the conditions that obtain with the normal picture. Theextent of the divergence is numerically indicated on the ilm by thenumbers below the NE of each picture as at 52, 53 and 54. At 52 theletter O is used to vindicate outward divergance to the extent of .5 atlocation 30 the divergence is indicated by 1., and at location 54 it isindicated by 1.5.

` The portion of the film to the right from the normal picture at d isarranged with'a series of double picture subjects which areprogressively spaced a shorter distance apart than the spacing of thenormal picture subject, so that the pictures gradually converge insteadof fusing under the stereoscopic effect. This is indicated on thedrawing by the letter I at each location with a numeral indicating theextent of the converging, as indicated at 55, 56, 51, and 58 on thedrawing. The double picture subjects are indicated by 33, 34, 35, 38, 39and 4D and are located a xed distance relative to each other on the lm.

When the lm is placed in the instrument, unless there is a fusion of theoverlapping parts of the double picture as at 6| in Fig. 3, the re-,Sult will in some cases correspond to 62 and 63 in Fig. 4. There is ofcourse a wide variation in the location of the parts of the doublepicture in the various positions of the lm, but by arranging the spacingof the double pictures progressively to increase or decrease aprogressive change from normal in the extent of variation is producedand this change can be made rapidly or slowly as desired by the user.that the eyes naturally tend to fuse the portions of the picture and indoing so the eye muscles are exercised without conscious effort on thepart of the user, and by regulating the time in which any particularsubject is viewed the eyes can be brought to obtain a fusion of thepicture subjects in several positions of the lm.

In using the device the operator places the end of the ilm through aslot in the stereoscope and closes the left eye. The lm is moved untilthe right eye sights NE with the N underneath, as at 5I, which is thenormal picture. If his vision` is normal and he sights the picture withbotheyes, it will make perfect fusion, giving results: corresponding toFig. 3. To increase convergence 2 of the eyes the lm is pulled towardthe right until the next; picture is reached, which is NE with I .5thereunder. A test should now be made with both eyes to note if fusionis obtained. This may then be continued with the other subjects atlocations 33, 34, 35, etc.

To exercise the eyes for divergence, start from the normal picture andmove the lm in the opposite direction for locations 29, 3U, and 3I,.noting the result in each case and the degree of fusion obtained.

Eyes that are not normal, that is, that diverge or converge, willestablish fusion in the picture. subjects at some point other than theposition of the normal picture, and the index characters at eachlocation clearly show the extent to which the defective vision exists.This invention may be practiced by the use of pictures of animals orsolid objects which will stand out in relief as viewed through thestereoscope, and which may form a source of entertainment as well as ameans for exercising the muscles of the eyes.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In an optical exerciser, a motion picture lm for a stereoscope,movable in the field of vision of 4 the stereoscope, said lm havingdouble pictures spaced in the field of vision of the stereoscope, andarranged one after the other in the same straight line andlongitudinally of the film, a normal double picture on one portion ofthe lm 5 spaced to fuse into a single picture when viewed through thestereoscope, other double pictures diiferently spaced from the normalpicture in another portion of said lm so as to diverge when brought intothe field of vision and an index 5 character on said film for eachpicture indicating the extent of the divergence.

2. A motion picture film for an optical device comprising a filmarranged to move longitudinally in the elds of vision of a stereoscope,said lm 6 having double pictures arranged one after the other in thesame straight line and longitudinally of the lm, a normal double pictureon one portion of the film having one part focused in one of said fieldsof vision and the other part focused 6 in the other field of vision,said parts overlapping each other and fused into a single picture whenviewed through the stereoscope and other double picture subjects onanother portion of said lm spaced closer together than said normaldouble picture subject so that the common parts of the picture willI notoverlap and fuse together when brought into the field of vision.

3. A film for an optical device arranged to move The result is 5longitudinally in the fields of vision of a stereoscope, said lm havingdouble pictures spaced in the field of vision of the stereoscope andarranged one after the other in the same straight line andlongitudinally of the film, a normal double pioture on one portion ofsaid film having one part arranged to focus in one of said el'ds ofvision and the other part arranged to focus in the other field ofvision, the common parts of said double picture fusing into a singlepicture when in said elds of vision arid a plurality of other doublepicture subjects on another portion of said film, each spacedprogressively to a greater or lesser distance than said normal doublepicture, so as to produce a progressive divergence or convergencebetween said pictures as they are brought into said iields of vision.

SAMUEL W. SILVERSTEIN'.

